Thursday, January 14, 2010

He will face a naturally bigger fighter again and, this time, Manny Pacquiao will be plunging into his latest challenge without the benefit of a catch weight.

And despite the testy challenge expected from last-minute replacement Joshua Clottey, Pacquiao has started out a 3-1 favorite for the March 13 bout in one of the biggest venues that has ever hosted a boxing match.

Pacquiao squares off with Clottey at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, after the collapse of talks to hold boxing’s so-called “Fight of the Century” pitting Pacquiao and undefeated American superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. due to a disagreement on drug-testing protocols.

Examiner.com reported yesterday that betting lines will open with Pacquiao the prohibitive favorite.
Bettors need to wager $300 to win $100. Clottey will start at plus-270, meaning a $100 bet on the former world champion will earn $270.

Although facing a veteran welterweight, trainer Freddie Roach remains confident of a victory for Pacquiao, who captured the WBO welterweight crown via a 12-round TKO of Miguel Cotto at a 145 lb catch weight.

“Manny’s comfortable at [147 lb],” Roach declared in a report posted by Fighthype.com. “When Manny’s eating the day of the weigh-in and gets to eat twice before the weigh-in, he’s happy and that’s when he performs at his best—when he’s smiling and in a good mood.”

“He’ll come into the fight 144 to 145 and he’ll go into the ring at 148 or 149 at most,” added the trainer. “And that’s his best fighting weight.”

Roach had earlier predicted that Pacquiao will become the first fighter to knock Clottey out, although Top Rank chief Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, warned that Clottey will be a tough challenge and should be worth the pay-per-view price of the bout, expected to be within the $40 to $50 mark.

“Well, Clottey is a dangerous opponent. Miguel Cotto was a dangerous opponent. If they’re not dangerous opponents, who the hell wants to lay out hard-earned money to buy the pay-per-view?” Arum told Examiner.com.

Manny Pacquiao Profile

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao born December 17, 1978, more commonly known as Manny Pacquiao, is a Filipino professional boxer.

He is currently the WBO World welterweight champion, Ring Magazine light welterweight champion, and is rated by Ring Magazine as the number 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

He is also the former WBC World lightweight champion, WBC World super featherweight champion, IBF World super bantamweight champion, and WBC World flyweight champion. Furthermore, he is the former Ring Magazine featherweight and super featherweight champion.

Joshua Clottey Profile

Joshua Clottey (born in March 16, 1976 in Accra, Ghana) is a Welterweight boxer who hails from Accra, Ghana, but now lives in the Bronx, New York. He is the former IBF Welterweight Champion.